Device for clearing horses from vehicles.



Patented B00130, I902.

L. L. &' J. W. FOX. DEVICE FOR CLEARING HORSES FROM VEHICLES.

(Application flled'Apr. 1 2, 1902.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES LLOYD L. F

PATENT OFFICE.

AND JOHN W. FOX,'OF LOWELL, MAINE.

DEVICE FOR CLEARING HORSES FROM VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,379, dated December30, 1902.

Application filed April 12, 1902.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, LLOYD L. FOX and JOHN W. FOX, citizens of theUnited States, residing at Lowell, in the county of Penobsoot and Stateof Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devicesfor Clearing Horses from Vehicles; and we do hereby declare thefollowing to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

Our invention consists of an improvement upon the device for clearinghorses from vehicles for which Letters Patent of the United States No.694,363 were granted us, dated March 4, 1902, and is fully illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an isometric view ofwhiffietree with tug-detacher. Fig. 2 is an enlarged isometric view ofone end of whiffletree, tug-detacher, and guard. Fig. 3 is a plan ofbracket and part of spring-bolts with detacher closed. Fig. 4 is a planof detacher closed. Fig. 5 is a plan of detacher open. Fig. 6 is aperspective ,view of thill-holder, holdback, and connection-strap.

Similar letters refer to corresponding parts throughout the figures.

The object of our invention, as indicated by its title, is to enable thedriver instantly and at will to free the horse from the vehicle to whichhe is harnessed and secured by the tugs and holdbacks, and by means ofour device that object may be accomplished from the vehicle itself by asingle motion, consisting in throwing backward the lever L and a fewforward steps of the horse.

The operative part of our device is essentially the same as in ourformer device, consisting of a pair of spring-bolts C 0, supported inbearings D on the back of the whiffletree A'and working longitudinallytherein and actuated and forced in opposite directions toward the endsof the whiffletree by springs c. The inner ends of the bolts Oterminatewith the arms 0, pivoted upon the bracket E,which isrigidly secured tothe whiffletree, and the bolts 0 and arms 0 arepivoted together, formingtoggle-joints at as, and the arms 0 are so curved or bent as to crosseach other when shot, as shown in Fig. 4, in which position Serial No.102,564. (No model.)

theyare firmly held by the springs c. The lever L is pivoted at y to thehanger F, secured to the whiffletree,'and projects upward in front ofthe crossed arms 0, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4:, through the slot ein thebracket E, by which slot it is supported and guided.

The construction thus far described is for the sole purpose ofdetachingthe tugs, and before describing its operation we will briefi y explainthe other feature of our device. We use no holdback-hook, but in placethereof the stop G, adjustable at any desired point on the shaft H bymeans of a screw-bolt and nut g. Connecting-straps J unite thethillholder I to the holdback K, and the thillholder backed against thestop and connected, as stated, with the holdback-strap enables us todispense with the holdback-hook.

In our former device U -shaped bearings having bolt-holes to receive theends of the spring-bolts were "attached to the outer ends of thewhiffletree. These U -shaped bearings are discarded in our. improvement,and in place thereof we have adopted an ordinary bearing D and attach toeach end of the whiffietree and in line therewith the guards B B, havingjaws b b sufficiently large to re ceive the thickness of the butts ofthe tug.

In operation, the spring-bolts being shot and the lever thrown forward,the horse, being harnessed, is backed into the shafts until thethill-holders rest against the stops G and the butt-holes of the tugsare slipped over the ends of the spring-bolts, the butts of the tugsresting in the jaws b of the guards B and being thus prevented fromleaving the ends of the spring-bolts. The horse is now fully harnessedin the vehicle, the arms 0 being crossed in the position shown'in Fig.4.By a single backward thrust of the lever L the crossed arms 0 are forcedopen to the position shown in Fig. 5, and the spring-bolts O aresimultaneously Withdrawn from the buttholes of the tugs, letting thetugs go free, while the moment the horse steps forward the thill-holdersslide from the shafts and the.

horse is absolutely cleared from the vehicle. The grip of the openedarms upon the lever, due to the action of the springs 0, holds the leverL in its reversed position until it is desired to harness again, when aforward thrust of the lever permits the expansion of the spring to throwthe spring-bolts forward into first position.

Stops M, locked by set-screws, may be used upon the spring-bolts toregulate the tension of the springs c.

The advantages of our device are easily apparent, enabling the driverinstantly to set free an unmanageable animal, as well as to detach himfrom the vehicle when ready to unharness, with a minimum of labor and aconsiderable saving of time, while the advantages of the presentimprovement consist in greater ease of attaching the tugs to thespring-bolts, as this can now be done when the bolts are shot withoutoperating the lever or bolts, as was necessary in our former invention,and an advantage is also gained in point of weight and size, as no tipsor handles at the ends of the arms 0 are necessary.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. A device for clearing a horse from avehicle consisting of thecombination of a whiffietree having a backwardly-projecting bracket atits center and having U-shaped guards at each end adapted to receive thebutts of the tugs, two spring-bolts working longitudinally in bearingson said whiffletree behind said guards and having arms pivoted to theirin-- nor ends, said arms being also pivoted to said bracket and bent tocross each other when said bolts are shot; a hand-lever pivoted to ahanger below said bracket and projecting upwardly between said arms infront of the point where said arms cross; a stop on each shaft shaped tocheck the backward movement of the thill-holders on the shaft; two thillholders; two holdback straps; and means of connecting eachholdback-strap with the corresponding thill-holder.

2. In the herein-described device for clearing a horse from a vehiclethe combination of a whiflietree having a U-shaped guard on each end;two spring-bolts working longitudinally in bearings on said whiffletreebe-' hind said guards and actuated outwardly by springs; two armspivoted to the inner ends of said spring-bolts and to a bracket attachedto the whiffletree and bent to cross each other; and a lever pivoted toa hanger affixed to the whiffletree and projecting upwardly between saidarms.

LLOYD L, FOX. JOHN W. FOX.

Witnesses:

'WILMER E. MILES, WENDELL A. OLMSTED.

